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Aug 11
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Good News Regarding Humidity Levels in Cob House

By Cob Building

I finally have some promising moisture news to report. After removing the original earthen floor in Gobcobatron, we put down a 6 mil poly liner, and our 1.5″ of rigid foam insulation.

The new floor is not yet fully in, but our hygrometer is reading lower than ever humidity levels! Previously, it was rare for the humidity to dip lower than 75-80% (yikes, yes). 65% was welcome when there was a strong breeze through the house.

Well, now that same hygrometer is reading more around 50% humidity, a much more acceptable level of moisture. Wow! I’m trying to not get too-too excited yet, because of course the floor is not yet complete, but I do believe this is an excellent sign for positive change. It suggests that moisture was indeed rising up through the gravel in the floor.

More on that later!

Aug 10
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Earthen Floor Demolition Video

By Video, Earthen Floor, Resources

Here’s yet another video of me destroying something in or around my cob house. This time, I take a pickaxe to the earthen floor inside Gobcobatron. Breaking it up was fairly tough work, but worse is trying to cleanly scoop up the material and carry it out of the house in buckets. Yuck. Well, I’m glad that’s over with, at least! It took a bit more than a day to complete, not without the help of a few hands throughout the process.

Aug 04
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The Decision To Use Pink Rigid Foam Insulation

By Moisture, Earthen Floor

I must confess: I’ve decided to use some pink foam insulation. I hate the stuff: it’s plastic, it’s a product of a polluting industry, it’s gross to work with, it’s non-biodegradable. And it has no redeeming ecological value. (Am I being harsh?)

It’s become clear that in my particular floor, at this particular time, and with my particular lack of willingness to experiment at this moment, it’s the “right choice”. Just over a week ago, April and I decided to go ahead and replace the entire earthen floor in the house, in hopes of continuing to alleviate the high humidity in Gobcobatron.

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Jul 25
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Sawdust Insulation (Or Other Natural Options) in Earthen Floor Installation?

By Earthen Floor, Moisture

To keep myself from typing the same thing over again, I’m going to simply copy the text of an email I sent to Bill and Athena Steen, in my hope to determine an appropriate natural insulation layer in an earthen floor installation.

– – – –

I’ve been living in my cob house for two years now, and I’m preparing to re-do the earthen floor. We think it’s a source of the major moisture issues we’ve been experiencing. It currently doesn’t have a vapor barrier, and that’s the main reason we are considering re-doing it.

Actually, I have two questions about our floor project. One is: if you use vapor barriers, what is your preferred type of membrane?

And more importantly, do you insulate your earthen floors? Can you recommend a material that would be suitable? I am not thinking a light clay straw insulation layer would be appropriate, because of the thickness necessary, and thus the change in floor height. Have you ever heard of anyone doing a sawdust-clay insulation layer? I did a sawdust insulation layer over the earthen oven I built two summers ago, but I’ve never heard of anyone doing something similar in a floor.

Any ideas? We want to avoid manufactured products as much as possible. (Not possible with the membrane, of course.)

– – – –

Well, there you have it. Ideas greatly welcomed!

Jul 24
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Introducing Strawtron: New Timber Frame Straw Bale House Design

By Timber Framing, Straw Bale Building, Strawtron, Natural Building Workshops

Conceptual drawing of our new house (north view)

Things are definitely shaping up in our new house design process. We are super excited to be collaborating with a few folks on this project, very notably Tom Cundiff of The Edgeworks, who is assisting with the design of a slick timber frame for what we are calling “Strawtron”, our new straw bale timber frame house project.

This fall, we plan on breaking ground for Strawtron, a three room, passive solar, straw bale-insulated house with a timber frame, greenhouse for passive heat and extended living space, screened-in north porch, and 1/2 story loft with a west-facing balcony.

But there’s plenty to do before that happens…

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Jul 13
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New Lime Interior Plaster in Gobcobatron

By Lime Plaster
Lime plastered interior, in process of curing

Lime plastered interior, in process of curing

Earlier in the year, April and I decided that we would re-plaster the bottom four feet of wall in the house in lime to help with mold prevention. (Lime is, after all, highly alkaline and inhibits mold growth.) We had our opportunity to do so last month, and although we haven’t put the finishing touches on, this is what it looks like thus far.

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Jun 16
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Outdoor Cob Oven Post Gone Missing! Help!

By Uncategorized

cob ovenWow, computers / the internet / technology can really be a drag sometimes. I just discovered that over half of my $20 outdoor cob oven post has gone missing from this website. I can’t find any of the content anywhere online, archived. This is the most popular post on my website, too, of course.

So I call out for help: does anyone have the text of this particular entry saved somewhere on their computer? (Of course, I don’t. Gr.)

Help!

UPDATE: It’s been found! Thanks, readers!

Jun 06
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Video: Two Beautiful Low Impact Roundhouses in Wales

By Resources, Video

I was very happy to discover this video on Tony Wrench’s website the other day. It provides a little tour of Wrench’s low impact roundhouse, and Simon Dale’s new house at Lammas, in Wales.

If you’ve done any searching for beautiful natural buildings online, it’s likely you have seen Simon Dale’s original low impact woodland home. But Simon’s got limited images of his new house up, so this video gives a better impression of the design. Check out that killer big greenhouse!

Definitely very exciting to see a bit more of Tony Wrench’s and Simon Dale’s work here. These two have provided me with a lot of inspiration for my own home, and they’ve also consulted me with on some things, too. Can’t thank them enough.

Gorgeous!